Cleo Wade Is Spreading the Love—Especially to Black Children

"May You Love and Be Loved" is an empowering affirmation and a new adventure for the best-selling author and poet.

When author Cleo Wade began working on her new book, “May You Love and Be Loved: Wishes For Your Life,” it was meant for just her children. The story formed from thoughts during middle-of-the-night feedings and pumping sessions, which were scribbled on nearby sheets of paper. During the process, she realized she was creating a message for all children and those who read to them, including herself.

“As I continued working on it for a few months, [the notes] became reminders for my own life,” Wade tells Kindred by Parents. “I realized that the books I loved reading to my kids the most were ones that almost felt like they could be an evening prayer. You're so tired and you're so exhausted, and it feels like these reminders to kind of be alive while you're here and keep your life joyful.”

Bold and beautifully illustrated by the author, “May You Love and Be Loved” is full of affirmations and bright colors. It encourages young people to be all things while reminding the person holding the book to also exist as they wish.

“I wanted it to be fun for kids. I wanted them to love the illustrations and feel that they're on this journey and on this road,” Wade says. “And I wanted the parents to feel like what you introduce to children is as valuable as what you remind yourself of because we're all reaching to be reacquainted with and keep the light on for the child within us. And so, there's this kind of special middle group space you can write in where it's for both.”

Affirmation after affirmation, Wade explores messaging that she says she wishes would have been more popular when she was growing up. Messages like “May you be someone you love,” are encouraging. “May you be weird” is a reminder that everyone is different.

“I think that so much of the time in life we try to be cookie-cutter or conform, and we erase or neglect our soulfulness or we kind of shed this bright shining individuality because fear of not fitting in or fear of not being correct,” she says. “[But that] can harm our creativity or make us lose touch… Weirdness is my superpower.”

A favorite book remains nestled in a reader's heart for a lifetime. Similarly, a powerful affirmation can uplift a person through all that the world brings their way. If any one of the pages in “May You Love and Be Loved” became cherished by someone who encounters the book, Wade would want it to be a page that explores not feeling pressured.

“Kids [can feel] like every decision is the biggest life decision ever,” Wade says. “There's so much anxiety and struggle of being right or wrong or correct or not for kids today. We raise our [kids] by saying, ‘Lighten up, it's OK’ feels so important.”

As the author of multiple best-selling books, one thing that Wade had never done before “May You Love and Be Love” was illustrate.

“I learned my process with this book,” she says. “Maybe I had a secret desire to illustrate it, I don't know, but I didn't go into it thinking I would illustrate it.”

After looking at hundreds of illustrators and trying to find what she felt was a great fit, her editor suggested she make the project even more personal and do it herself. Wade jokes that being a Virgo initially made her hesitate since astrology notes that perfectionism is one of the sign’s biggest traits.

“I think there was something in my Virgo, the challenge of, ‘And if you can't,’ I was like, ‘Well, first of all, Virgos don't try things and then can't do it.’ Virgos don’t do anything they can't do perfectly,” Wade says.

Once Wade got over that hump, she began to joyfully bring her thoughts to life, starting with writing a list of whimsical and interesting objects.

“When I read the word compassion, somehow, I [saw] a rainbow,” she says. “It was almost as if, what did these words mean? What did I see when I felt the words as I read them? So, when I [said], ‘may your dreams be your constant companions,’ [it] felt like a stage. When it said, ‘may you be very, very weird,’ I just felt like seeing a sea of people all wearing the same things and the one person that stands out. I just kind of really took this deep dive into my own imagination.”

Challenging her imagination became a gift of revelation and even rebellion.

“Every single page of this is a wish I have for my kids, but I really love the pages in this book, especially those that invite us to rebel on what in life is a worthy rebellion,” Wade says.

Whether it’s exploring love or quirkiness, Wade wants Black children to feel the pages in a world that sends them mixed messages about self-worth.

“Especially with our Black children, the world will send you messages, and you can decide what to do with them, but they certainly don't have to inform your being,” she says. “You always have the power to tell the world who you are and reject who the world tells you [that] you should be. To allow our kids to embrace nuance or a million different ways that Black womanhood, manhood, childhood, and personhood looks and feels [like] is critical."

"There's a page in the book that says, ‘May your dreams be your constant companions,’ and there's a talent show stage that I drew on the page. But [it] is not about saying that if you want to be an actor, get on a stage. It's about allowing our children to have a platform and a stage to be whatever they dream of being,” says Wade

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